The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-11-12
Compiled for The ArkGns0tC TroreLer. SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

4NO lOoc than <OO AAbbAC PA0AObc dA O now known in the asteroid zone, sixty of them having been discovered by Dr. J. Palisa, the we'll known astron- omer of Vienna.
 A mushroom plantation has been established in disused railway tun- mel at Edinburgh. The mushroom beds occupy about 800 yards of the tunnel, whose total length is about three quarters of mile.
 The common thistle, which now covers large areas in southern Chili, is said to have been introduced there by an Englishman, who imported a bushel of seed and sowed it under the delusion that the plant would prove valuable for fodder.
 A case has been reported in which leprosy seemed to have been con- tracted through vaccination with vii rus from child in whom the disease subsequently, developed. The child was native of the tropics, and lep- rosy had previously existed among his relatives.
 Hygiene is receiving all unusual share of scientific attention. The hygiene congress at Vienna attracted no fewer than 2,250 members from all parts of Europe, while the future of hygiene formed the subject of the presidents address to the French As sociation for the Advancement of Science.
 INSECTS IN ART.-A wonderful land scape on exhibition in Paris is exe- cuted in European and foreign insects. Every desired tone is supplied by 45,- 900 coleoptera in the foreground, and 1000 varieties of the insect tribe for the remainder of the picture. The work required four years of the artists time.
 METEOROLOGICAL INSTINCT. - MT. w. Mattieu Williams thinks that the instinct which guides the swallow southward in autumn is probably of very practical and unpoetic kind. Its food is chiefly flying insects, whose development ceases with the advance of cold from the north, and in migrat- ing the bird is simply following it's FetredIlDg IoOu 5upply.
 A PRACTICAL HINT.-A German authority recommends as very effect ual an apparently very simple method of protecting iron from rust. The article is immersed in nearly satu- rated solution of chloride of tin, then washed in water, and afterward with weak ammonia. The tin solution must not be too acid, or it will attack the iron. The treated metal appears like frosted silver.
 NEW RUBBER.-The "tuchmig" of the Chinese, or P,'amerta glandulJera of botanists, grows in southern India, and has been recommended to the h. dian government as tree from which large quantities of cautchouc can be drawn. In the South American tree the cautchoic flows from punctures in the bark, but from the new source the gum is obtained by breaking the boughs and drawing it out in fila ments.
 THE WORLDS MOTIVE FoRCE.-Sta- tistics compiled in Berlin give the aggregate horse power of all the steam engines in use as 46,000,000. Each steam horse power is equivalent to three times an actual horse power, and living horse is equal to seven men, so that the worlds engines represent approximately the work of 1000, ,000,- 900 men, or more than double the working population of the earth, whose total number of nhabitants is ,455, 1928 ,000. Of the total steam force, not including locomotives, the United States has 7,500,00O horse power England, 100000; Germany, 4,5OO,- 900; France, 3,OOO,OOO, and Austria, 1,50O,000. The locomotives of the world number ,000, and represent 5000, ,0o0 horse power.
 THE BABY PLEsIosAURUs.-One of the most remarkable fossils ever found has been exhibited to British paleon- tologists by Prof. H. G. S.eley. It shows the early development of the Plesiosaurus, the gigantic reptile of ancient seas which united the head of a lizard with the teeth of crocodile,a neck like serpent's body, the trunk l and tail of a quadruped, the vertebra of fish, the ribs of chameleon, and the fins of a whale. The fossil is series of minute Plesiosauri, less than five inches long, with not only the bones but the flesh perfectly pre- served, this being the only case known of the naturalization of the muscular substance and tho preservation of the external form of these animals. The remains show different conditions of development.
 EsTHErIcs OF STREET Where the untrained eye will see nothing but mire and dirt, says Sir John Lubbock, science will often reveal exquisite pos abilities. The mud we tread under l